Wednesday, January 7, 2015

The cousin of a 23-year-old man, gunned down by Wichita police on
Saturday, has blamed the officers for John Paul Quintero's death, saying
they "got out of the vehicle ready to kill," while the victim was
allegedly weaponless.

“Everybody’s upset, angry, hurt,” Alina Quintero, a
family spokeswoman and cousin of John Paul “Paulie” Quintero, who
died in hospital hours after the shooting, told the Wichita Eagle online newspaper.
“One fact is, police shot an unarmed man,” she stated.

“Paulie” grew up in San Antonio, Texas, and moved to Wichita a
couple months ago to begin a food-processing job.

“He came here to start a better future,” Alina
explained.

On Saturday night, Quintero's family called 911, saying John Paul
had threatened them with a knife while he was under the influence
of alcohol. According to police, Quintero was “belligerent” and
wouldn't comply with the two officers who arrived at the scene
eight minutes later. He was seated in an SUV parked in front of
the house with his father. They asked both men to exit the car,
and the older Quintero agreed.

After finally exiting the vehicle, John Paul allegedly started
walking towards the back of the SUV as officers ordered him to
show his hands. After he failed to comply, a male officer
deployed a Taser, which had no effect on Quintero.

The man allegedly reached for his waistband as he kept moving
towards a male officer.

Kansas police say the other female officer then fired two fatal
shots into Quintero’s midsection. Police confirmed on Sunday they
had not found any weapon on John Paul Quintero.

Demonstrators stand with tape reading, " I Can't Breathe", as they march
along Interstate 195 after police shut the road down to protest police
abuse on December 7, 2014 in Miami, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty
Images/AFP)

One neighbor, who lives with his wife in the unit behind the
Quintero’s, told Kake.com he witnessed the deadly events.
According to Ted McAdams, Quintero was "trying to talk to the
male officer with compliance" and “had his arms up until
he got tasered, [when] his arms went down to his side.”

Alina Quintero told the local newspaper that while her cousin lay
critically injured, the officers handcuffed him. “Like they
didn’t care if he was bleeding to death, that he was
nothing,” she said.

“They treated him like he was not a human being. My aunt had
to call the ambulance to make sure they got there fast.”

A former state school board member from Wichita and vice chairman
of the city’s Racial Profiling Advisory Board, Walt Chappell,
told the Wichita Eagle he had a feeling the officers “made a
conscious decision to escalate rather than de-escalate.” The
mere fact that the female officer walked up with a rifle“would indicate to me they were already loaded for
bear,” Chappell said.

A protester yells "I can't breathe" during a protest against the
decision by a Staten Island grand jury not to indict a police officer
who used a chokehold in the death of Eric Garner in July, on December 4,
2014 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Scott Eisen/Getty Images/AFP)

“You don’t go in ready to shoot first and ask questions
later. There’s a lot of things you can do before you ever pull
out a weapon,” he added.

According to Interim Police Chief Nelson Mosley, detectives later
determined that Quintero had threatened to kill people at the
home, at one point holding a knife to a woman’s throat, before
going outside and sitting in an SUV.

By ordering Quintero out of the SUV police only made Quintero
“further agitated,” Chappell noted.

“Our thoughts are with the family over this incident,”
police spokesman Lt. James Espinoza said, “but at this time
we are not going to comment in regards to this
investigation,” he added.

Meanwhile, Quintero’s family is seeking donations for expenses
related to John Paul’s death, in an effort to possibly take his
remains back to his native San Antonio.

Alina is spreading fliers around town, entitled “Justice for
John Paul” and stating he was “gunned down by Wichita
Police Department.”

Quotes

"There is beauty in truth, even if it's painful. Those who lie, twist life so that it looks tasty to the lazy, brilliant to the ignorant, and powerful to the weak. But lies only strengthen our defects. They don't teach us anything, help anything, fix anything or cure anything. Nor do they develop one's character, one's mind, one's heart or one's soul." Jose Harris

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